Teenage classmates of the boy alleged to have stabbed his teacher to death will be asked to testify before a grand jury over 'very important' evidence being kept secret that could prove key to solving the mystery over the brutal slaying, MailOnline can reveal today.

The District Attorney's office will call several 14-year-old students in front of a grand jury to give testimony about one crucial thing the children apparently saw in the hours leading up to Colleen Ritzer's death.

The evidence forms the basis of the case against Philip Chism - who allegedly killed his teacher with a boxcutter then dumped her body in a recycling bin behind Danvers High School, Massachusetts.

Crucial: The DA's office will call several 14-year-old students in front of a grand jury to give testimony about one very important thing they apparently saw before Philp Chism (left) allegedly murdered Colleen Ritzer' (right)

Link: Their sighting is apparently connected to evidence being kept secret following the execution of a search warrant at Chism's family home in Danvers, above

Investigators are determined to keep the specific nature of the evidence a secret because the children are currently unaware of its huge significance.

Prosecutors do not want the young witnesses' recollections of events to be tainted by any rumor or gossip.

The Essex County District Attorney's office told MailOnline that this is partly the reason why prosecutors went to court to have a number of documents relating to a search warrant carried out on Chism's family home and other evidence sealed.

Up until now Chism's reason for allegedly killing Colleen, 24, has remained a complete mystery and he has refused to answer any questions about why he did it.

He was described as 'stone cold' by one officer. and while he has apparently confessed to the crime and helped police work out the exact events of the day, and been spotted on the school's surveillance cameras, he has given no hint of a motive.

In their quest for answers, investigators searched his family home in Danvers – a couple of miles away from the murder scene – but their findings are currently confidential.

The reasons why the warrant was requested in the first place have also been banned, along with the actual motion from the Essex County District Attorney’s office requesting the court order.

The DA would only release this statement: 'We requested the impoundment because the search warrant affidavit and the motion to impound the affidavit contain sensitive information that may be prejudicial to the defendant and jeopardize his right to a fair trial; witness names who have yet to appear before the Grand Jury and information that may contribute to the increased psychological and emotional distress of the victim’s family.'

'Stone cold': Chism has co-operated with authorities over what happened that day but has not revealed anything that could be believed to be a motive

Distress: Prosecutors plan to sit down with the beloved teacher's family this week to go through the upsetting specifics of the case, a DA spokeswoman told MailOnline

MailOnline can also reveal representatives from the District Attorney plan to sit down with the Ritzer family before the end of the week to discuss upsetting specifics of the case with them.

It is believed certain details of the killing are particularly disturbing and officials want to prepare the Ritzers before anything is revealed in public.

But their efforts may be thwarted as the court order has now been challenged by a number of media organizations including local papers The Salem News and Eagle-Tribune.

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A hearing is scheduled for 2pm on Monday and It will be decided if the motion should stand, or be overruled.

Speaking to MailOnline, a spokeswoman for District Attorney, said her office felt they had a very strong case for secrecy.

She said: 'It is so important to keep certain elements of the information confidential. We have to get our witnesses in front of the grand jury before a lot of it is revealed, so we can get their true recollections before they are influenced by what they have heard.

'Some of these witnesses are 14-year-old children, who saw one thing that we believe is very important. They don't know the whole story and we want to keep it that way because we want them to tell us what they remember, not what they have heard.

Reclusive: Rania Rhaedaoui, who was sitting just one desk from Chism when Colleen asked him to stay behind for extra work, said Chism had become more withdrawn in recent weeks

'Our highest priority is to protect the integrity of the investigation. If that gets compromised our ability to get justice for Miss Ritzer is diminished.'

She added: 'We haven't had a chance to meet with the victim's family yet, but we hope to do that this week because we want them to know what we know before it comes out elsewhere. They are in an unimaginable situation and we do not want to make that worse in any way.

'It is our practice to speak to the family first to answer any questions they have and to provide them with the information that will come out eventually, in privacy.

'All this information will come out in due course and it will become clear what our investigation is focused on. We are not saying,'you will never find out the true story, it's just a question of timing.'

But even if the case is successful, there is still a chance that Chism's motive may remain unknown.

She added: 'The motive is part of any investigation, but ultimately we don't have to prove a motive. When you are piecing together any investigation, you are looking for an explanation, but I wouldn't want characterize where we are with that at this stage.'

Pain: Peggie Ritzer breaks down in tears as she walks from her daughter's funeral service with her son, Daniel, on Monday. Her daughter Colleen was allegedly murdered by one of her students

Ever since Tuesday afternoon’s tragedy friends and family have struggled to understand how Chism, a shy, but pleasant student could savagely murder one of the most popular teachers at the school.

Her funeral on Monday attracted hundreds of mourners, but no one there had any idea why Chism apparently did what he did.

Police sources have told the MailOnline they are looking into the theory that the star soccer player, who only moved to Danvers, from Clarksville, Tennessee at the start of the school year, had developed feelings for Ritzer and he snapped when she spurned his advances.

But all that is certain are the details of the murder, which happened around 3.30pm on Tuesday, while the school was still crowded with children.

Student Rania Rhaedaoui was sitting just one desk away from Chism in his final math class with Ritzer, a couple of hours before the killing.

Speaking to the MailOnline, she explained: 'We were supposed to have a test last Friday and Philip wasn't participating in class on Tuesday. He was drawing in his note book and not working. He always draws, but I didn't ever see what he was sketching because he was quite private about it.

'Miss Ritzer spotted what he was doing and asked if he could stay behind so she could help him. It wasn't a punishment and it was something she did a lot with other students. If you couldn't stay it was no problem.

'As I left the classroom to go to play practice, I could see he was getting his homework stuff out ready for extra tuition.'

A different student saw the two together an hour after the class had ended, and Colleen was standing next to him as he was sitting down by her computer.

'It just looked normal, like any other day,' Cambria Cloutier told The Boston Globe.

One rumor circulating around Danvers is that Chism was about to fail in math, which could have put his place in the soccer team in jeopardy. But Rania does not think this is true: 'It's so hard to fail that class because she was such a good teacher and he was smart, so I would be very surprised if that was the reason.'

But soon after Chism allegedly followed Colleen into a bathroom in the school then punched her in the face and slashed her throat with a boxcutter before stuffing her lifeless body in a recycling bin.

He then dumped the body, the boxcutter and his blood stained clothes in woods just behind the school, before changing into a sweat suit he had brought with him to class.

Why? Police have not revealed why Chism allegedly killed the popular teacher. One source told MailOnline that detectives still don't know themselves and the student has offered no explanation

Mystery: A police source told MailOnline they are investigating whether Chism was infatuated with Colleen and another theory is that he was scared he was going to fail at math - putting his soccer team place in jeopardy

Around 45 minutes later Chism was caught on security camera looking calm and composed at the Hollywood Hits movie theatre, where he watched the 4.30pm showing of Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmin.

He then walked to a local Wendy’s where he apparently bought food with Ritzer’s stolen credit card. Chism was picked up by police walking along a road in neighboring Topsfield at 12.30 on Wednesday morning.

Rania, 14, says she was completely stunned by the news that Chism was the only suspect in the killing, but thinking back she does remember him becoming more reclusive in the weeks leading up to the murder.

She said: 'When he first joined I used to do group work with him and he was fine. He used to participate and he was smart. But about two weeks before it happened he stopped doing group work and asked if he could do it on his own.

'He was always shy, but he became even more quiet. He didn't have any really good friends. He didn't socialize.'

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Classmates of boy 'who stabbed teacher to death' to testify to grand jury